TRL Helpdesk: Buying a laptop

I'm in the market for a laptop that will be primarily used by kids under the age of 10. I'm a mac user myself but I'm getting a bit fed up with my boys spilling drinks on my macbook and generally misusing it (not to mention stopping me from using it!)

I've had a look at websites like cnet for advice on what to buy, but I just ended up confused.

I obviously don't want to pay much - say less than £400 - but it needs to be robust and be good for homework and games.

Any advice would be great, especially if you know of any bargains to be had.

My thoughts are anything in that price range isn't going to last more than a year or two. Does it have to be a laptop?

Depends what they're going to use it for I guess. All the laptops I've ever owned have been from that sort of price range, and all have lasted somewhat longer than a year or two. Admittedly I'm child free however, so I don't know how much more than web browsing, photo editing, music storage and MSOffice based work that I use mine for that kids are likely to do. From a plus point with kids, the cheaper it is, the less it is to replace if it gets damaged beyond repair.

Depends what they're going to use it for I guess. All the laptops I've ever owned have been from that sort of price range, and all have lasted somewhat longer than a year or two. Admittedly I'm child free however, so I don't know how much more than web browsing, photo editing, music storage and MSOffice based work that I use mine for that kids are likely to do. From a plus point with kids, the cheaper it is, the less it is to replace if it gets damaged beyond repair.

True. My experience with laptops are where they are carted about on a daily basis and the cheapy ones don't tend to last long.

Raspberry Pi's are a great idea. I've played about with Linux, XMBC (a media player) and for a bit of nostalgia Risc OS on mine. Kids can do what they like with it as it only costs around £25 although they might be a bit disappointed that it won't play games (they should be programming their own) or run windows (which is a good thing).

I'm in the market for a laptop that will be primarily used by kids under the age of 10. I'm a mac user myself but I'm getting a bit fed up with my boys spilling drinks on my macbook and generally misusing it (not to mention stopping me from using it!)

I've had a look at websites like cnet for advice on what to buy, but I just ended up confused.

I obviously don't want to pay much - say less than £400 - but it needs to be robust and be good for homework and games.

Any advice would be great, especially if you know of any bargains to be had.

thanks very much

Mark

Just a thought.

But if your a mac user, I'm sure in your price range you could pick up a reasonable 2nd hand Macbook or Macbook Pro. Granted no good for the latest and greatest games, but would save you getting to grips with the likes of Windows 8!